


Learning To Share

by Glass_Oceans



Series: The Ficlet Collection [69]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 13:27:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14770494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glass_Oceans/pseuds/Glass_Oceans
Summary: For the 'I love you' prompts, Kylux & 21? (Over your shoulder)





	Learning To Share

**Author's Note:**

> Content notes: Angst with a Happy Ending

Hux closed the door quietly behind him. The apartment was immaculate, all signs of their argument having been swept away. The low coffee table in front of the TV was missing its vase of flowers, but the shards were gone, the carpet dry, and the TV remote and listings magazine were squared off neatly. And yet the atmosphere still remained, leaving the apartment feeling crowded and stiff and difficult to move through. The chime of tableware caught his attention and he moved from the door towards the kitchen.

Kylo was standing at the sink, silently engaged in washing the dishes. Hux could see his forearms moving through the sudsy water, could hear the faint squeak of the sponge, but he didn’t turn around. His hunched shoulders told Hux that he was aware that Hux had returned, but he would get no acknowledgement of the fact from Kylo. Hux swallowed as he set his keys on the table, the small sound too loud between them, and shrugged off his jacket. He licked dry lips with a dry tongue, and spoke before he lost his nerve.

“I need to talk to you.”

Kylo lifted a mug from the water, holding it a moment to let the foam drip from the surface, before immersing both hands in the water and continuing to wash. Hux could feel his brows drawing in response, but caught himself. He willed his shaking hands to remain open, and sighed.

“I wanted to explain things to you.”

Kylo paused, his head cocked slightly towards his shoulder. Hux stepped towards him, his hands automatically rising to touch Kylo, but he kept them at his sides. He stared at the t-shirt Kylo was wearing, the soft, well-worn cotton familiar to him.

“I went to military school,” he began, “a boarding school-“

Kylo pulled himself upright, staring out the window above the sink, his shoulders drawing a harsher line.

“I know,” Hux said quickly, raising his hands though Kylo wouldn’t see them. “I know you know this, but please just… I don’t know the right words for this; I’m trying to find them.”

As Hux lowered his hands again, he reached out, resting one over the curve of Kylo’s hip. When Kylo didn’t flinch away, he rested the other there too, feeling the warmth of him through his clothing.

“My father sent me off as soon as the school could take me. I think he was happier to get me out of his sight, though he kept track of my progress,” Hux continued. It was easier if he just stared at the space just below where Kylo’s hair fell to. “I would have been on track to enter the officer program when I was eighteen, the first sign my father was pleased with what I’d done. So you can imagine what happened when I moved here as soon as I graduated.”

Kylo’s hands were unmoving in the water now, the foam popping as his arms as his skin began to dry.

“I joined a military unit here too. It wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but it was all that I knew, and it saved me from having to go ho-, go back.” Hux sighed as he spoke, the words feeling heavy in his chest. “But it was still more barracks, more shared rooms, I still had nothing for myself.”

Hux’s eyes dropped to his hands where his thumbs had started rubbing back and forth, as though Kylo was the one in need of comfort. He watched the fabric wrinkle as his thumb moved over it.

“When they discharged me, I was finally able to get a place of my own.”

“But then you met me,” Kylo said, voice quiet.

Hux looked up in surprise, and then nodded slowly.

“Then I met you.”

Kylo’s gaze went beyond the window as he through back to that day. He’d paused in the stairwell, trying to select the right album to listen to before heading out, only to find his way blocked by a stack of boxes with a skinny pair of legs. Intrigued, he’d gone down a few steps, lifting off the top box and ready to offer help, only to be shocked to find the owner scowling at him. Kylo had replaced the box with an apology and a cheeky grin, squeezing past to head on his way. He’d barely gotten three steps before Hux had called him back and asked for his help, making polite sound exasperated. Kylo had accepted the request, just as he’d helped Hux with the rest of his moving in, precious few boxes as he recalled now. He’d also accepted Hux’s offer of pizza and beer by way of thanks. And barely two weeks later he accepted the spare key Hux had had cut for him, given that they barely spent a moment apart.

Kylo hung his head, his own fingers moving in the water in an echo of Hux’s hands on his back.

“Do you regret it?” he asked quietly.

“What?” Hux said. “No, oh no Kylo, not for a moment.”

Hux slid his arms around Kylo then, pressing his back against him. Kylo near melted with relief to feel him close, and placed his wet hands over Hux’s to hold Hux to him.

“I just…I’m not very good at this,” Hux said, resting his head on Kylo’s shoulder. “I’ve never had just… things to myself, space, belongings. I had this place for all of a day before you came along.”

Kylo looked over his shoulder at Hux. He watched the flutter of Hux’s eyelashes.

“When you talked last night about getting a new car, for us… it was the last thing I had that was just mine, and I panicked.”

Kylo felt his chest clench. The car had been giving trouble for a while, costing more in repairs than it was worth to run. They were both doing well enough that a newer car was an option, and had simply suggested it while they were relaxing on the couch; Hux’s legs sprawled over his. But the moment the words were out, Hux got up, his long legs knocking the vase from the table, and he was screaming at Kylo. So Kylo had screamed back, not stopping to think about the why of what had just happened.

“You can keep the car, if it means that much to you,” Kylo said. He was rocking them both gently now, trying to hold onto his gentle, open moment between them.

Hux lifted his head, meeting Kylo’s eye for the first time since he returned.

“It’s not that,” he said. “I was sitting on a park bench, just… I didn’t know what else to do. I realised that nothing was stopping me. I could have everything I wanted. I could have the crappy car, and the apartment, and the collection of ornaments and plants and no clothes strewn over the floor to trip over…”

Kylo huffed a laugh at that last one. He promised Hux that he wouldn’t leave clothes lying around anymore. And he meant it, he really did. Every week when he made the promise again, he meant it.

“But I wouldn’t have you.”

Kylo felt his cheeks growing warm as Hux leaned forward to kiss him gently.

“You’re what I want now, Kylo,” Hux said, tightening his arms around Kylo’s middle. “You just… there’s going to be some days when I’ve not caught up with myself.”

Kylo released Hux’s hands, tapping Hux’s hands to loosen too, before turning around so he could wrap Hux up properly in his arms. They held onto each other in silence for a while, their combined relief lightening everything around them.

“So what you’re really saying,” Kylo said after a while, still holding Hux tight, “is that you like my floordrobe.”

Hux barked a laugh, and Kylo grinned as he felt him squirm to escape his grasp.

“Don’t call it that,” Hux said. “And I do not.”

“I think you’re lying,” Kylo said, releasing Hux and stepping back as Hux tried to swat him. “Shall we test it?”

Kylo danced back before Hux could answer, and pulled off his t-shirt. He began to walk backwards as he thumbed open his jeans, lowering them just enough to his hips to shown the beginning of the dark trail of hair that led further down. He watched Hux’s eyes follow the trail, biting his lip, before his eyes met Kylo’s again, this time with a hunger in them. Kylo slung the t-shirt over his shoulder, and turned to go to their bedroom. He paused at the doorway, looking back over his shoulder.

“Well, are you coming or not?”

“What are we testing?” Hux asked as he closed the distance between them.

“What’s more compelling, me or the floordrobe!” Kylo said with a laugh as Hux swatted at him, and chased him to the bedroom.


End file.
